Kawhi Leonard Is So Good at Basketball, He’s Costing McDonald’s Millions In Free Fries Giveaways

(*Awkward Kawhi laugh*)

The Toronto Raptors are just one game away from stealing the NBA Finals away from the Golden State Warriors, ending a dynasty and depriving Steph Curry of a Finals MVP trophy once and for all.

How’d they do it? Besides using tactics more often seen in under-11s competitions than in elite-level basketball? Primarily, by recruiting Kawhi Leonard from the San Antonio Spurs; a risky acquisition that saw Toronto eject their previous franchise player, DeMar DeRozan, knowing full well that Leonard was only locked in for one year, and would likely leave them at the end of the 2018 – 19 season.

It’s a gamble that has paid off, with Leonard going sicko mode during the Playoffs and making his case for the Best Damn Player on the Planet. And he’s looked absolutely ecstatic along the way.

Kawhi’s CRAZY reaction to finding out he hit the first game 7 game winning shot in NBA history pic.twitter.com/IXuOiMa924

— Joe Knows (@JoeKnowsYT) May 13, 2019

But if anyone’s rueing the day Kawhi moved to Canada besides the Warriors, it’s McDonald’s.

In July of 2018, Macca’s made a deal to offer a free medium fries in Ontario any time the Raptors made 12 or more three-pointers in a game. According to the Financial Post, the decision was made because the Raptors averaged 11.8 threes a game, and were projected to only hit the magic '12' mark in forty-odd games during the season, amounting to an estimated 700,000 freebies.

But those projections were for a pre-Leonard Raptors. And 18 days after the ink dried on the Macca's contract, Leonard signed to the Great White North.

It’s not so much that Leonard is sinking way more threes than was previously accounted for (though, he’s definitely moved the needle). Rather, he’s given the Raptors a much deeper playoff run than the team has ever experienced, meaning they’ve enjoyed 54 games in which they cracked the '12' threshold (so far). Plus, Canadians are apparently way more into free fries than anticipated.

This means McDonald’s has had to give away more than two million free fries, amounting to $CAD5.8 million in giveaways (the original 700,000 estimate would have only cost them $CAD2.02 million).

Macca’s had the choice to tweak the '12' mark after Leonard signed, but they decided against it, telling the Financial Post, "it will pay off in the future".

No doubt, they’re secretly hoping the Raptors take the series in five games, rather than seven.

Header Image: YouTube (NBA) & iStock.com/clubfoto